Prague is one of the world's most overloaded tourist destinations

A new study as found that Prague is among the world’s most overloaded holiday destinations by tourist numbers. Holiday-rental portal Holidu calculated cities with the highest number of tourists per inhabitant, with the Czech capital ranking 15th.

According to the findings, Prague – a city of over 1.3 million people – has 6.3 tourists for every one inhabitant. Viewed as a relatively low-cost, historical, easily navigable, and aesthetically pleasing city, the news will likely come as little surprise to the city’s local government and its residents.

The large tourist-inhabitant ratio makes even more sense when compared with recently urging tourist figures since Covid-19. Data from the Czech Statistical Office found that 7.4 million tourists – both domestic and international – visited Prague in 2023; an increase of about 25 percent year on year. Over 4 million visitors from abroad came to the Czech capital in 2023.

The introduction of direct flights to Seoul and Taipei in July significantly contributed to this surge. The number of tourists visiting Prague from South Korea soared by 287 percent to 110,276 individuals, while the number coming from Taiwan grew by a whopping 1,091 percent (46,293 people).

Overtourism has long been a concern for local government, which are trying to find methods to stem the disruption that comes with extremely high visitor numbers. Examples included proposals to severely restrict (or outright ban) pub crawls, place a ban on stag-party costumes, increase fines for e-scooter misuse, and increase noise restrictions.

Indeed, a newly implemented nighttime entry ban for vehicles around Prague 1’s very busy – and lively – Dlouhá Street is evidence of the City of Prague’s efforts to contain noise. Last year, the city launched a campaign entitled “Enjoy Respect Prague” that, among other aspects, involves large billboards reminding visitors to treat the city kindly by (for example) not making any noise past 10 p.m.

In May 2023, Prague invested CZK 8.25 million into a campaign to attract culture-minded tourists, giving cultural hotspots more funds to attract visitors that don’t necessarily have a penchant for excess alcohol consumption.

Jana Adamcová, vice-president of Prague City Tourism board, says that – even among British tourists – the top reasons for visiting Prague were its sights and culture, with alcohol falling to fourth place. 

In the overall Holidu ranking, the areas of Dubrovnik (Croatia), Rhodes (Greece), and Venice (Italy) had the highest tourist-resident population ratios.